Protesters rally against closure of largest gender-affirming care center for kids in the US

LOS ANGELES AP Growing up Sage Sol Pitchenik requested to hide I hated my body the nonbinary -year-old noted I hated looking at it When therapy didn t help Pitchenik who uses the pronoun they started going to the Center for Transyouth Healthcare and Expansion at Children s Hospital Los Angeles the country s biggest inhabitants provider of gender-affirming care for children and teens It changed their life But in response to the Trump administration s threat to cut federal funds to places that offer gender-affirming care to minors the center will be closing its doors July Pitchenik has been among the scores of protesters who have demonstrated regularly outside the hospital to keep it open Trans kids are done being quiet Trans kids are done being polite and trans kids are done begging for the bare minimum begging for the chance to grow up to have a future to be loved by others when sometimes we can t even love ourselves Pitchenik explained prompting cheers from dozens of protesters during a up-to-date demonstration They went to the center for six years There s a lot of bigotry and just hate all around and having somebody who is trained specifically to speak with you because there s not a lot of people that know what it s like it meant the world they informed The Associated Press The center s legacy In operation for three decades the facility is among the longest-running trans youth centers in the country and has served thousands of young people on populace insurance Patients who haven t gone through puberty yet receive counseling which continues throughout the care process For particular patients the next step is puberty blockers for others it s also hormone replacement therapy Surgeries are rarely offered to minors I m one of the lucky ones commented Pitchenik who received hormone blockers after a lengthy process I learned how to not only survive but how to thrive in my own body because of the lifesaving robustness care provided to me right here at Children s Hospital Los Angeles Plenty of families are now scrambling to find care among a patchwork of private and citizens providers that are already stretched thin It s not just subject care but research progress that s ending It is a disappointment to see this abrupt closure disrupting the care that trans youth receive But it s also a stain on their legacy announced Maria Do neighborhood mobilization manager at the Los Angeles LGBT Center I think it showcases that they re quick to abandon our largest part vulnerable members The closure comes weeks after the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee s ban on gender-affirming care for minors amid other efforts by the federal regime to regulate the lives of transgender people The hospital initially backed off its plans to close after it disclosed them in February spurring demonstrations but later doubled back The center disclosed in a announcement that despite this deeply held commitment to supporting LA s gender-diverse locality the hospital has been left with no viable path forward to stay open Center association members were heartbroken to learn of the decision from hospital leaders who emphasized that it was not made lightly but followed a thorough legal and financial assessment of the increasingly severe impacts of current administrative actions and proposed policies the comment noted California Attorney General Rob Bonta has warned that by closing the center the hospital is violating state antidiscrimination laws but his office hasn t taken any further actions Bonta and attorney generals from other states sued the Trump administration over the executive order in February The Trump administration s relentless assault on transgender adolescents is nothing short of an all-out war to strip away LGBTQ rights Bonta narrated the AP in an email The Administration s harmful attacks are hurting California s transgender population by seeking to scare doctors and hospitals from providing nondiscriminatory healthcare The bottom line is This care remains legal in California LGBTQ protesters and physical condition care workers offer visibility Still wearing scrubs Jack Brenner joined protesters after a long shift as a nurse in the hospital s crisis room addressing the crowd with a megaphone while choking back tears Our visibility is so significant for our youth Brenner noted looking out at a cluster of protesters raising signs and waving trans pride flags To see that there is a future and that there is a way to grow up and to be your authentic self Brenner who uses the pronoun they didn t see people who looked like them growing up or come to understand what being trans meant until their mid- s It s something I definitely didn t have a language for when I was a kid and I didn t know what the source of my pain and suffering was and now looking back so several things are sliding into place Brenner announced I m realizing how much gender dysphoria was a source of my pain Trans children and teens are at increased pitfall of death by suicide according to a analysis from the Centers for Disorder Control and Prevention Brenner described encountering young patients in the crisis room who are trans or otherwise on the gender-nonconforming spectrum and at the peak of a mental healthcare predicament Brenner wears a lanyard teeming with colorful pins emblazoned with the words they them to signal their gender identity I see the change in kids eyes little glints of recognition that I am a trans adult and that there is a future Brenner explained I ve seen kids light up when they recognize something of themselves in me And that is so meaningful that I can provide that Beth Hossfeld a marriage and family therapist and a grandmother to an - and -year-old who received care at the center called the closure sufferer abandonment It s a political decision not a diagnostic one and that s disturbing to me she declared